After Irma: Florida governor says nursing home 'failed...basic duty' in deaths

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Operators of a Florida nursing home where eight seniors died last week called Florida Gov. Rick Scott's cell phone four times after Hurricane Irma knocked out the facility's air conditioning, Scott's office confirmed Tuesday — but the governor's office said managers never indicated patients were in danger or needed to be evacuated.

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Every call from the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills to Scott’s phone was returned by a state official, said the governor’s office, which said nursing home managers were “advised by the state multiple times to call 911 if they had any reason to believe that any lives were in danger – something they failed to do.”

Scott's office late Tuesday released 159 pages of phone logs, emails and other records related to the state's interaction with the facility, which is under criminal investigation for the deaths. A ninth victim died Monday, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office reported.

The nursing home has blamed state officials and Florida Power & Light for the deaths and released its own timeline last week of calls to FP&L and state agencies.

FP&L last week released a statement, saying it is "limited in what we can say" because of the investigation but adding that "there was a hospital with power across the parking lot from this facility and that the nursing home was required to have a permanently installed, operational generator…we urge our customers who have electricity dependent medical needs, and who don't have power to call 911, if it is a life-threatening situation."

With Republican Scott expected to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson next year, Democrats have intensified efforts to link the governor to the nursing home deaths.

Nelson, in a Senate floor speech Monday, mentioned the nursing home deaths and “all the phone calls that had been made that were not answered, both to the government as well as to the power company.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Tuesday accused Scott of a “failure to respond” to requests for help from the nursing home’s administrators.

Scott is pushing back hard against his critics.

“No amount of finger pointing by the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Facility and Larkin Community Hospital Behavioral Health Services will hide the fact that this healthcare facility failed to do their basic duty to protect life,” Scott said in a statement released Tuesday night. “This facility is failing to take responsibility for the fact that they delayed calling 911 and made the decision to not evacuate their patients to one of the largest hospitals in Florida, which is directly across the street.”

Scott’s office said the governor gave a personal cell phone number before the hurricane to “mayors, sheriffs, police chiefs, county and city officials, nursing homes, ALFs and fuel and utility providers.”

After Irma passed through Broward County on Sunday, Sept. 10, and knocked out the nursing home’s air conditioning, an aide to the governor retrieved a voice mail message at 7:35 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 11 from Natasha Anderson, the CEO of Larkin Community Hospital Behavioral Health Services, which is associated with the nursing home.

The call was returned about about 9:50 p.m. by Department of Health Chief of Staff Alexis Lambert, the governor’s office said.

“Chief Lambert advised Anderson to call 911 if there was any reason to believe that the health or safety of patients was at risk. The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills reported issues involving air conditioning but did not, at any time during the call, report or indicate that conditions had become dangerous or that the health and safety of their patients was at risk,” Scott’s office said.

According to the nursing home’s timeline, on Monday night “the building was still cool and the spot coolers were in place maintaining required temperatures.”

The next day, Sept. 12, callers from the Rehabilitation Center left two voice mail messages on Scott’s cell phone that were retrieved at 10:25 a.m. Another voice mail was retrieved at 12:50 p.m., according to the governor’s office timeline.

According to the nursing home’s timeline, it received additional spot coolers from Memorial Regional Hospital at 3:15 p.m. on Sept. 12.

An Agency for Health Care Administration official returned one call to nursing home administrator Jorge Carballo at 4:17 p.m., the governor’s office said. Another AHCA official called Anderson at 4:41 p.m. Both Carballo and Anderson said the nursing home’s “chiller” wasn’t working but that spot coolers and fans were in place, according to the governor’s office, which said neither nursing home official indicated patients were in danger.

About nine hours later, at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 13, the nursing home says the first victim experienced an elevated heart rate and was taken to the hospital.

Cox Media Group